Pain in the Grass

Have I ever mentioned how much I detest the grass here in Jacksonville? I know the answer to that is YES, but I am going to mention it again. In my time in Utah and Ohio I falsely came to believe that grass is soft to the touch, and can be walked upon barefoot. I recall many happy afternoons spent laying on the grass (with or without a blanket) absorbing the sun's rays (have I ever mentioned how much I love the sun?), a good book in hand.

In Ohio, I was amazed that, while sprinkler systems were optional, huge fields of beautiful grass grew everywhere, even in front of grocery stores. It was a grass heaven, God's carpet, and . The only problem was that there were so few warm, sunny days of the year, that it was hard to really enjoy it.

You would think that Florida, with an abundance of both rain and sunshine, would hold the key for the best possible vegetation, but I was sorely disappointed when we moved here and found that the city of Jacksonville is nothing more than a swamp covered with loads of beach sand. Indeed, our house is "built upon the sand," and the ground soaks up water like a man dying of thirst. The most popular type of grass is St. Augustine, and it is nothing like the grass I grew up loving. It is coarse, infested with bugs, and requires a great deal of time and attention. Even with vast amounts of TLC, it often withers and dies. People are constantly pulling it all out and starting over, resodding their entire yards.

When we discovered that our kids were not going to be playing carefree in the yard, our motivation for taking care of it quickly dropped out of sight. We watered it occasionally, regarding it as more of a nuisance than anything else. As would be expected, the grass started to die. First one spot turned brown, then another. We started getting letters from our homeowners association telling us we needed to address the issue. We put it off as long as we could, hoping for some lieniency because of Jeff's busy schedule. Finally, in September, after spraying for both bugs and weeds, we decided it was time to replace the lawn in the front yard. I'm sure you will agree that it was time (past time).

Jeff and I spent a couple weeks pulling out the old stuff with a rake and bagging it up to be hauled away. It was hard, back breaking work, and we needed a little help from Jeff's brother, Greg, at the end. But we got the yard to this point, as free from weeds as it was ever going to be.

We only did from the sidewalk to the house, and left the green "weed grass" alone.

$200 of sod came just before we left for our cruise in October. Damon and Kimmy (my sis) thought it would be more fun to play on the pallets than actually do any of the work.

My dad, who thought he was coming here for a vacation, was put to work, and he and I laid the sod while Jeff was at school. I had to go inside after about 2 1/2 hours, but my dad stayed out and finished the rest. What a man.

And here is a picture that I took two days ago. You have to admit that it looks a ton better. It might even look good enough to walk on. But don't be fooled--I won't be spending any time laying on the grass, basking in the sun, the smell of freshly cut grass in my nostrils. Not here in Jacksonville. I'll have to wait until we have our own house in Utah for that. Or maybe visit a Kroger in Columbus.